Thomas.Busby@f6.n123.z1.fidonet.org (Thomas Busby) (10/02/90)
Index Number: 10703
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
[I also have this program available here on the Handicap News
BBS 1-203-337-1607]
I would like to let you all to know about this file; lsign10.zip
that is spelling hands tutors...
DESCRIPTION: Learn to Sign is a tutor program aimed at teaching the
American Sign Language. This release only supports 'finger
spelling'
REQUIREMENTS: Learn to Sign runs in CGA 320x200 mode, EGA 640x350
mode, and VGA 640x480 mode. It will run on an IBM XT, AT, PS/2 or
true IBM compatable. It requires a color monitor and can be run
from a hard disk or a floppy drive.
SHAREWARE: Learn to Sign is distributed as Shareware. You are free
to try it and make copies for others. If you continue to use Learn
to Sign you are asked to make a donation of $10.00 or more to the
author to support continued development of this and other software.
Software companies may include Learn to Sign in their catalogs
provided they send the author a copy of the catalog.
There are seven choices from the main screen. To choose one, use
the arrow keys to highlite your choice then press <enter>. Each
choice is explained below.
LETTERS: This will allow you to view the sign for a particular
letter or number ( 1-9 ). Just press the key for the sign you wish
to see. Press the ESC key at any time to return to the main menu.
Size and color of the letters is determined by LSIGN.CFG. This can
be changed and optionally saved by user using SETUP. (see below).
WORDS: This option will allow you to finger spell a word a letter
at a time. Multiple words may be entered separated by spaces. Hit
<enter> after the last word. Size and color depends on setup. An
optional way of viewing words is to choose setup and set WORDS
option to 'more than 1'. This will display all letters for a word
on the screen at the same time. To use this option you should set
the hand size to a small value (1 or 2). This varies by graphics
adaptor. If more letters are entered then will fit on the screen,
the letters are truncated off both ends of the words. The moral is
use this option on words with few letters. I will attempt to
improve in future releases. Press ESC at any time to return to
menu.
TEXTFILE: This will read in a standard ASCII text file and display
it one letter at a time using the current setup options. You can
return to the main menu at any time by pressing any key. You will
be returned when the end of the file is reached. This option
provides a good way to practice reading finger spelling. The
default file is LSIGN.TXT but this can be changed from setup.
Currently there is a maximum file size of 4000 bytes. You can edit
and change lsign.txt or use any text editor to create your own
file. Pressing ESC will return you to main menu. If you create
your own file, remember to change the default text file name in
SETUP.
QUIZ: This will show a sign for a particular letter (A - Z) and
wait for you to type in the matching letter on the keyboard. If you
press the right key for the sign being displayed a new sign will
appear. If you get it wrong, the PC will 'beep'. The sign will
remain until you press the right key. Hitting ESC at any time will
return you to the main menu.
SETUP: Setup will allow you to configure Learn to Sign to your
system and preferences. When LSIGN.EXE starts, it looks in the
current directory for the file LSIGN.CFG. If it finds it, it loads
configuration information contained in that file. If it does not
find it, LSIGN.EXE uses default settings. >From within setup, use
the arrow keys to choose the setting you want to change then press
enter. After changing all the settings to your prefenence, press
ESC to quit setup. You wil be prompted on whether to save these
settings. If you answer 'Y', the file LSIGN.CFG will either be
created or updated. The next time you start LSIGN, these new
settings will be used. The new settings also apply to the current
session. If you press any other key, the new settings will apply,
but the file LSIGN.CFG will NOT be updated.
Each setting controls the following:
Text color: This is the color of the text on the main menus. Text
color cannot be the same as the text background color.
Text background: This is the background color for the main menus.
Background color cannot be the same as text color or bar
background.
Bar color: Is the color of the text in the highlited choice bar.
Cannot be the same as bar background color.
Bar background: Is the color of the background choice bar. Cannot
be the same as the bar color or the text background.
Hand color: This is the color of the displayed hands. For CGA there
are only 3 valid choices. For EGA and VGA there are 15 valid
colors. For EGA and VGA, hand color cannot be the same as hand
background. In EGA/VGA black is not a valid hand color.
Hand background: This is the graphics background color. For CGA,
black is only valid color. For EGA/VGA there are 16 valid colors.
Words: This defaults to 1. This means that when you view WORDS
from the main menu, you will see one letter at a time. When you set
this option to 'more than 1', the program will display all the
letters for each word at one time on the screen. You should set the
hand size to a small value when using this option.
Text File Name: This is the name of the file which is read and
displayed from the Textfile option. It must be in the current
directory. Any standard Ascii file can be used. Length must be less
than 4000 bytes.
Hand size: This is a sizing factor for the hands. Only whole
numbers are used. As an example, if you enter 3, the hands will be
3 times their normal size. This effect will vary with graphics
adaptor. Valid values are from 1 to 12. If you set this value to
high for your adaptor, parts of the hands will not be displayed.
Due to the varying types of monitors and adapters, I have left this
value open to play.
Delay: This is the time delay between each letter in seconds.
Valid values are between .1 and 15.0 seconds. As you become
better at signing, you can lower this value.
Graphics mode: Set this option to match your monitor and graphics
adapter type. When you change this option, remember that size,
speed and colors will be affected. The program has built in
defaults which are set such as hand size and colors. You can change
these after setting graphics type. The program also will not let
you choose a higher level adapter than you have. eg. if you have
EGA, you cannot select VGA.
EXIT: Choosing this option will return you to DOS.
HELP: This is a limited help screen. Two pages of help will pop up
and briefly explain the options. It is only available from the main
menu currently. ESC will return you to the main menu. Any other key
will take you to page 2.
*********** *************
I just got article of part of lsign manual so I thought it would
help you to define how lsign program work ..... If you want to file
request "LSIGN10.ZIP by via netmail (1:123/6) or TWSMN!
(901)366-7221 here...
-=(Thomas Busby)=-
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